charlott charlotten, the president was making a recess appointment to head the consumer protection bureau. the question is are we watching the beginning of a new get tough go it alone election strategy from the president? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist this is "way too early." the show that woke up and thought it was still in des moines. glad you're watching us on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. tweet me or e-mail me and let me know what you're doing up at this hour. or do what rocking rick perry still does and text the word awake followed by your response to 622639. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this thursday, january 5th. a lot going on today, including reports of chapter 11 bankruptcy for a truly iconic american

company. and steven colbert warns romney that he's made one dangerous mistake, leaving newt gingrich alive, angrier than ever. the news live at 5:30 a.m., after a photo finish at the iowa caucuses, the republican presidential field is hitting the ground in new hampshire. mitt romney looking to lock up back-to-back victories with state polling suggesting he should win new hampshire going away. the latest cnn poll shows romney leading the pack in new hampshire with an overwhelming 47% support among likely republican voters. ron paul comes in a distant second, 30 points behind romney at 17%. then a cluster there of jon huntsman, he's dedicated all his campaign resources to that state, and third within the

margin of error. rick santorum up to 10%, and newt gingrich who is polling in the single digits in new hampshire at 9%. when the same group is asked which republican candidate has the best chance of beating president obama, look at that number. mitt romney, 65%. second on the list, newt gingrich with 9%. from 65% to 9%. santorum and huntsman round out the top five with 5%. saying they're confident in their chances of beating president obama. romney is hoping to pad those numbers further with a new endorsement from senator john mccain, despite their rivalry during the 2008 republican nomination fight, mccain joined romney yesterday to make the announcement public. >> with some nostalgia i return to this place that i love so well, but i'm really here for one reason and one reason only that is to make sure that we

make mitt romney the next president of the united states and new hampshire is the state that will catapult him on to victory in a short period of tim time. >> romney's victory lap wasn't exactly smooth. the former massachusetts governor interrupted twice by hecklers including a challenge by one sportser of the occupy movement. >> would you refine your earlier statement from corporations are people to corporations are abusive people? >> where do you think corporations profit goes? where does that go? >> it goes to profit. it depends -- >> but where does it go. let's get the facts. there are two places it can do. >> those are facts, mr. romney. >> you had your turn, now it's my turn. >> to mark senator mccain's endorsement, a pro gingrich superpac posted an old web ad that the arizona senator ran during his 2008 nomination battle against romney.

>> i believe abortion should be safe and level in this country. i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i am pro-life. >> you will not see me wavering on that or being a multiple choice. you need to go back to youtube what i said in 1994. i was an independent during the time of reagan/bush. >> it's time for republicans to start acting like republicans. >> i'm not trying to return to reagan/bush. >> i'm john mccain, i approve this message. >> yes, that was a john mccain ad from 2008. gingrich continued to pile on romney yesterday. calling romney a "liberal and political chameleon" with "limited appeal in a conservative party." >> the fact is three out of four republicans rejected him. governor romney is a moderate massachusetts republican to the left of the vast majority of

republicans. i find it amazing the news media continues to say he's the most electable republican when he can't even break out in his own party. >> the obama white house also piling on. david axlerod saying after the iowa vote that mitt romney is a charleton. in his first public appearance since his near-win in iowa, rick santorum spoke about the importance of tuesday's primary vote. >> you fight to be first. you have a responsibility that comes with that. and that is to lead. not pay attention to what the polls say or what the pundits say. how many pundits were right over the last six months about what was going to happen in this race? none. serially wrong. they're worse than weathermen.

so, don't trust them. trust yourself. >> an insult to bill karins right there. after a disappointing sixth place finish in the iowa caucuses, michele bachmann has announced she will drop her bid for the republican nomination. the minnesota congresswoman did not offer an endorsement for a candidate in the race, but she did say republicans must rally around whomever the party chooses. bachmann may be out but rick perry says he is staying in the fight, announcing tuesday night he would head back to texas to assess his campaign, yesterday he shocked his own staffers when he said this -- the next leg of the marathon is the palmetto state. here we come, south carolina. that message included a picture of the governor with a thumbs up in his running gear standing by a lake. president obama's kicking off the election move that both defies republicans and pushes forward his economic plan. the president tapped into his

executive authority yesterday by appointing richard cordray as the director of the new consumer protection agency. the announcement came during a speech in the key battleground state of ohio. >> today i'm appointing richard as america's consumer watchdog. i nominated richard for this job last summer. so you may be wondering why am i appointing him today? it would be a good question. for almost half a year republicans in the senate have blocked richard's confirmation. i'm not going to stand by while a minority in the senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve. >> republicans, as you might imagine, are outraged by the move. house speaker john boehner called it an unprecedented power grab. mitt romney fresh off his win put out a statement reading in part instead of working with

congress to fix the flaws in this new bureaucracy, the president is declaring that he refuses to take no for an answer. this represents chicago-style politics at its worse. later today the president will join leon panetta as the pentagon unveils plans to shrink the army to 490,000 soldiers over the next decade. the new military strategy reflects big cuts at the defense department, at least $450 billion over ten years. according to the "new york times," the number of aircraft carriers will remain the seen in part to counter china's growing influence in the pacific. a german man is being held on nearly $3 million bail after being charged with 37 felony counts of arson in los angeles. 24-year-old harry burkhart is accused of setting more than 50

fires targeting cars and homes. prosecutors say burkhart used a device to help accelerate the fires which caused an estimated $3 million in damage and terrorized a portion of that city. now there's word that burkhart is under investigation in his home of germany for a fire that started at his house days before his departure to the u.s. kodak may file for bankruptcy protection in the coming weeks. the company is talking to banks to secure up to $1 billion in financing to keep the company running during the bankruptcy proceedings. let's look at the markets and get all up in your business, jeff cutmore is with us. say it isn't so, kodak filing

for bankruptcy. >> it's an iconic company we all grew up with and those film canisters and the number of innovations kodak brought to us in the photographic department, but that was where some of the seeds of what's happening today were sewn because they failed to keep up with the pace of development and digital in the early 2000. the story has not been denied by kodak because it seems if the story is right we could expect filings soon for chapter 11 protection if they don't manage to sell about 100 paten0 patent they're trying to shed. auto sales up about 10%, how are the markets looking at that? >> it's a terrific number. and a great thing about the figure, i guess, for the moment team is the strongest sales were seen in many of the american companies. groups like chrysler and gm did

extraordinarily well here. the japanese, not so good. we saw about a 7% decline for brands like toyota and honda. the question is, what does that mean for this year? the challenge is going to be replicating that kind of sales number. and that's the fear, i suppose. good news from 2011, but does that mean that sales will be lower through full year 2012? back to you. >> let's hope it keeps up. jeff cutmore, thank you very much. still ahead on "way too early," after a weekend of air-tight overtime bcs bowl games, we get a blowout finally. an historic one at that. how about 70 points for the winning team in the west virginia/clemson game? and jon stewart finds a gem from michele bachmann's speech following the iowa caucuses. that and must-see weather when "way too early" comes right back.

>> congressman sonny bono is dead. he was killed in a skiing accident monday night in south lake tahoe on the california/nevada border. a formal investigation to determine what happened is underway today. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you

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welcome back to "way too early." the christmas tree is still up. isn't it about time to take that baby down? i know ours is down. let's get a check of weather from nbc meteorologist bill karins, just flat out insulted by rick santorum yesterday. >> i was trying to figure out what my superpac could do to knock him back down. >> he was talking specifically about you, by the way. >> i understand. you know, like a baseball player, you're right three out of ten times, you make a career

out of it. >> go back with some negative advertising, like -- >> i'm like newt. i don't want negative ads. straight and narrow. >> above the fray. >> let's get to the forecast and the new hampshire forecast, too that's where we will be focusing the attention as we go into the beginning of next week. a nice warm up this morning. windchills in the teens, not like yesterday when it was bitterly cold. not a bad afternoon, temperatures in the upper 30s. 40s from new york down to d.c. focusing specifically on concord, we have the debates coming up up there, this is new hampshire, in the heart of winter. no chances of snow. partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the 30s and 40s. we can deal with that even into tuesday t look gooshg tuesday, it looks good. it will be 57 in billings montana, today. record warmth in the middle of the country. in des moines, it will be 60. >> was about 6 the other day. we left a day too early

apparently. turning to sports, bcs college football last night. the of rarange bowl was not clo but it was entertaining. the mountaineers went on a tear. early second quarter, gino smith, quick pitch to tavon austin. cuts outside for 27 yards. hugs the sideline somehow stayed inbounds all the way to the end zone for the score. look at the tightrope action. keeps the left foot inside. west virginia up 21-14. clemson first and goal, ball is fumbled. watch this. darwin cook, we thought the play was over. he scooped and went 99 yards the other way for the score. and the rout was on. west virginia scored three more times in the second quarter. the half time lead for west virginia was 49-20. they weren't done. third quarter, smiths avoids the blitz. austin over the middle.

37 yards for the touchdown. austin ties a bowl record four touchdown catches. smith with 401 passing yards that breaks tom brady's orange bowl record. west virginia wins by the score of 70-33. how about some soccer? the football where you kick the thing. this comes to us from the english premiere league. a small portion of you may have been watching everton and bolton to get a glimpse of landon donovan, but tim howard boots the ball down the field, takes a bounce over the goalkeeper and in. howard is a good sport choosing not to celebrate too much. the length of the field, top spin, huge bounce. over -- wow. that is incredible. becomes only the fourth goalie ever to score in the english

premiere league. bolton won the game, 2-1. watch it go in. t.j.? we've talked about this when you're doing sports, if a ball is going into a basket or net or guy is running across a goal line -- >> here it is. >> no, i don't want it anymore. don't want to see it go in. too late. too late. there you go. t.j., that's my man. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," mitt romney rolls into new hampshire with a monster-sized lead on the state. when we come back here, we'll huddle up around the water cooler to watch steven colbert warning mitt romney about his perhaps fatal mistake. hey guys, breakfast! ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't

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with mitt romney commanding a major lead in the new hampshire polls, 30 points is the latest spread, it looks like this will be a battle for second place. judging by recent history that number two spot is important. tell your friends since 1952 no republican presidential candidate has gone on to win the party's nomination without finishing first or second in new

hampshire. john mccain won in 2008 with 37% of the vote. mitt romney polling at 47%. enough of the real news, let's watch stewart and colbert break down the iowa caucuses. colbert warns romney he made a big mistake by leaving newt gingrich alive in the race. >> newt has the knives out for mitt romney. listen to these not so veiled threats he issued last night. >> we will not go out and run nasty ads, but i do reserve the right to tell the truth. if the truth seems negative that may be more a comment on his record than it is on politics. >> oh, you have made a fatal mistake. you may have wounded newt. but you left him alive. and alone with his first love -- hate. newt's wound will now fester,

oosing a pustulant rage which will render down to liquid vengeance and pour into the hollow-nosed bullet and fire into the romney dreams and dance on the grave. but not in a negative way. personally, i cannot wait for this weekend's debates in new hampshire, because when mitt romney least expect it, gingrich will turn to him and say -- >> hello, my name is newt gingrich. prepare to die. >> princess bride, that's a good reference. john heilemann also on colbert last night. michele bachmann dropped out

after iowa after her fifth place. >> michele bachmann had one silver lining. >> i must thank my husband of 36 years, marcus bachmann. yesterday when we were out on main street in des moines, he was out buying sunglasses for our dog boomer, while we were all out visiting the many businesses. seriously, look at the face he's making. the only sound you can make when your mouth is shaped that way s is -- oh. which i guess roughly translates to i'm sorry i ruined your campaign with my completely heterosexual devotion to dog accessories. still ahead on "way too early," why your awake tweets

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top story on msnbc.com, wandering wolf caught on camera. a young male gray wolf that wandered hundreds of mile from oregon and into california as he searched for a mate has been photographed for the first time. that's your number one story on msnbc. at the top of the show, we asked you what you were doing at the hour. what have you got? >> keeping the water flowing at mountain fort treatment plant. >> cool. we have a lot of overnight shift workers who watch the show. always glad to have you. what else you have? >> micah writes i'm up watching "way too early" to not see all the soccer goals i missed last night, thanks to t.j.. >> t.j., our fantastic director should be pointed out. he has this pension for cutting right out of things into